1) Early on, poor Roman men taught their sons to do physical things such as swimming, fighting and wrestling, alongside things such as reading, mathematics, public speaking, playing music and writing by themselves, and not with a teacher, because that would have been far too expensive.
2) People (technically only boys) who were rich could attend grammar school and oratory. Of course, grammar school speaks for itself, boys would go and learn better grammar, and what was called "grammatica" which was a very high level grammar. Oratory was a school where Ancient Roman boys would learn how to be fantastic public speakers. Oratory was a very important school, because if you were a good public speaker, there would be a bright future awaiting you.
3) The vicious cycle about being poor was that, you could teach your child all you knew, but it was always very unlikely for that child to get a job without a proper education. Therefore, if the child couldn’t get a job, they would most likely be poor for their whole life. The thing was, the rich usually stayed rich because of education, and the poor usually stayed poor because of their lack of a good education.
4) Girls were not sent to proper schools, they were sent to Primary Schools. In these schools they learned about their role in the Roman Republic which was marrying and having as many children as they possibly could. Girls who were rich were allowed to receive an education, but it would be done at home. They would learn how to play musical instruments and sing, sew, and manage a kitchen.
5) Boys went to secondary schools, where they were punished for any mistake that they should make with harsh beatings. Girls on the other hand were often taught by their mothers, (although sometimes slaves for girls who were rich enough) who sometimes punished them, but nothing like the teachers that the boys generally had at their secondary schools.
6) In these schools, people who attended would be rewarded by not being beaten, and punished with increasingly painful beatings, the more often they got things wrong. Palm lashings, beatings, and whippings were reserved for whoever was naughty or continuously didn't pay attention, or got numerous answers wrong. If someone were to get an answer right, they would be rewarded with possibly, but very unlikely a "good job" and not be beaten, whipped, or lashed.
7) Many classes only had several people in it especially people who were rich, and could easily afford very good schools. Generally it would be a paid slave teaching them, and generally a slave who was saving their wages to buy their freedom. Sometimes it would be a free slave, but often times, once a slave would be freed, they would want to be rid of the job as soon as possible.
8) Sometimes, schools in Ancient Rome taught things such as religion and faith so that the children being taught would learn to practice the religion that they were taught in school. However, generally the topic of religion was left to the churches to teach.
9) Often times, schools would be located in the market. It would really just be in a stall where people would trade their goods, and was only separated from everyone flooding in and out of the market by a single curtain, and very rarely were schools in an entire separate building. It was very loud and noisy, and when "schools" were in a condition like this, it was usually a school that poorer people attended. People who were very rich could generally afford to attend a school in a separate building
10) School supplies in Ancient Rome, generally consisted of a wax tablet, and a stick with which to write in the wax with. Only when boys had proven that they could write well, did their teachers allow them to write on paper, as it was very expensive. They would use ink made out of gum, soot, and sometimes, but very rarely, the ink from an octopus. They would write with quills.
2) Present day schools offer food for very low prices, therefore, kids who don’t have as much money to spend on healthy packed lunches, or when their parents don’t have enough time to pack their lunches, the school can provide food for them, that is not as unhealthy as a fast food restaurant, and always has selections of fruits and vegetables.
3) People can choose to send their children to public schools, where they don’t have to pay for them (not directly anyway, they do through taxes), or private schools where the price is usually very high, and there are fewer people per class.
4) The way that public schools nowadays get money is often through the government (really payed for with collected tax money), and sometimes the schools/school districts themselves create fundraisers, and levies.
5) The price of college is so high right now, that economists predict it will actually cost over $120,000 in 2015. If the price of college continues to grow after this, the USA will most likely experience the same problems that Ancient Rome did, because nobody except for extraordinarily rich people will be able to afford school that is that expensive. Schools need to be set at a reasonable price so that people won't have to worry about the future, and how they will be able to afford a proper education for their children.
6) People who work at the schools also have to get payed. Here are some of the paychecks of people who work for schools:
PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS:
Superintendents: $159,634
HOURLY WAGE RATES:
Custodians: $13.74
Cafeteria Workers: $10.93
School Bus Drivers: $13.43
Library Clerks: $13.03
HOURLY WAGE RATES:
Custodians: $13.74
Cafeteria Workers: $10.93
School Bus Drivers: $13.43
Library Clerks: $13.03
PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT STAFF SALARIES:
Secretaries: $29,850
Accounting Payroll: $34,810
Teacher Aides: $22,000
PUBLIC SCHOOL PROFESSIONAL PERSONNEL:
Counselor: $57,800
Librarian: $54,650
School Nurse: $64,260 (average)
PUBLIC SCHOOL ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS:
High School: $79,391
Middle School/Junior: $76,053
Elementary School: $71,192
7) While most of the school workers don't get payed much at all, they almost always have very good health care benefits. Another good thing about working in a school is that they have very good retirement benefits for when they are too old to work in schools. However, most teachers work in schools for a very long time, and therefore don't spend as much time in retirement as people who worked in other jobs may.
8) Public transportation is very important to us. Many people can't have their parents drive them to school, so we need buses. One way that we could help the Ancient Romans getting to and from school is through public transportation. Of course it's not like they had cars back then, but it takes a very long time to walk to school, and some of their tax money could go to helping schools arrange public transportation for the students, and to pay whomever arranges the transportation (present day bus drivers).
9) In the USA, public wasn't really used until the founding fathers decided that education was extremely important in order for the newly founded country to survive. Thomas Jefferson was actually the one to come up with the idea of free education for children. The idea started in Virginia for three years, and after not too much time, it spread throughout most of America.
10) The chart shown below represents what the Congress spends our money on. Notice how they spend much more on military than on education for the future generation.
11) Going along with the above chart, since Congress spends so much more on military than on education, American 12th graders rank 19th out of 21 competing countries in mathematics achievement and 16th out of 21 nations in science. Our advanced physics results were terrible, 21 out of 21. This is not a result of poor schools or poor teachers. It is partially because of not enough money to support education as well as other countries, but mostly because of how many people drop out of school in the USA.
Dear Mr. Bloomer,
Our names are Tess and Alex, and we are 7th graders at Nagel Middle School.
We are doing a project on Ancient Roman education, and were wondering if
you could answer some of our questions about education in Ancient Rome.
- How did the price of school in Ancient Rome compare to the prices of present
day college?
- From what we have researched, it seems that teaching, or being taught was really
considered a punishment. Is this true?
- How did the poor learn all of the things that they taught their children if
they didn’t get a proper education? In other words, were the poor people in the
Roman Empire descended from poor people, who were descended from poor
people, and so on?
Again, we would be so happy if you could respond, and that's perfectly fine if you
- How did the Ancient Romans handle lunch. Did they bring their lunches, did they eat inside or outside, etc.
- How did the price of school in Rome compare to the price of present day collages.
- How did the poor learn all of the things that they taught their children if they didn’t get a proper education? In other words, were the poor people in the Roman Empire descended from poor people, who were descended from poor people, and so on?
-Did the Romans realize that the Empire was going to crumble if they didn’t get their children a proper education?
-When did the Ancient Romans realize that they had to get their people well educated to keep the Empire going?
Summary/Conclusion
The Ancient Romans were very into education. The rich could always afford the best for their children in terms of education, but the poor were not usually able to get a proper education. Generally, they just had to have their parents teach them. Something that we could do to save the Roman Empire from being lost forever, is to have them pay just a little bit of tax money as they start to get back on track, and as the Empire returns to it’s original height, they can pay more and more tax money to support the education of people who can’t afford a proper education. Once the Roman Empire has more educated people, they will be able to make better decisions because of better educated people running the Empire. If there are better decisions made for the Empire because of better educated people, the Roman Empire will be saved. And all because of a little bit of tax money.
1) Early on, poor Roman men taught their sons to do physical things such as swimming, fighting and wrestling, alongside things such as reading, mathematics, public speaking, playing music and writing by themselves, and not with a teacher, because that would have been far too expensive.
2) People (technically only boys) who were rich could attend grammar school and oratory. Of course, grammar school speaks for itself, boys would go and learn better grammar, and what was called "grammatica" which was a very high level grammar. Oratory was a school where Ancient Roman boys would learn how to be fantastic public speakers. Oratory was a very important school, because if you were a good public speaker, there would be a bright future awaiting you.
3) The vicious cycle about being poor was that, you could teach your child all you knew, but it was always very unlikely for that child to get a job without a proper education. Therefore, if the child couldn’t get a job, they would most likely be poor for their whole life. The thing was, the rich usually stayed rich because of education, and the poor usually stayed poor because of their lack of a good education.
4) Girls were not sent to proper schools, they were sent to Primary Schools. In these schools they learned about their role in the Roman Republic which was marrying and having as many children as they possibly could. Girls who were rich were allowed to receive an education, but it would be done at home. They would learn how to play musical instruments and sing, sew, and manage a kitchen.
5) Boys went to secondary schools, where they were punished for any mistake that they should make with harsh beatings. Girls on the other hand were often taught by their mothers, (although sometimes slaves for girls who were rich enough) who sometimes punished them, but nothing like the teachers that the boys generally had at their secondary schools.
6) In these schools, people who attended would be rewarded by not being beaten, and punished with increasingly painful beatings, the more often they got things wrong. Palm lashings, beatings, and whippings were reserved for whoever was naughty or continuously didn't pay attention, or got numerous answers wrong. If someone were to get an answer right, they would be rewarded with possibly, but very unlikely a "good job" and not be beaten, whipped, or lashed.
7) Many classes only had several people in it especially people who were rich, and could easily afford very good schools. Generally it would be a paid slave teaching them, and generally a slave who was saving their wages to buy their freedom. Sometimes it would be a free slave, but often times, once a slave would be freed, they would want to be rid of the job as soon as possible.
8) Sometimes, schools in Ancient Rome taught things such as religion and faith so that the children being taught would learn to practice the religion that they were taught in school. However, generally the topic of religion was left to the churches to teach.
9) Often times, schools would be located in the market. It would really just be in a stall where people would trade their goods, and was only separated from everyone flooding in and out of the market by a single curtain, and very rarely were schools in an entire separate building. It was very loud and noisy, and when "schools" were in a condition like this, it was usually a school that poorer people attended. People who were very rich could generally afford to attend a school in a separate building
10) School supplies in Ancient Rome, generally consisted of a wax tablet, and a stick with which to write in the wax with. Only when boys had proven that they could write well, did their teachers allow them to write on paper, as it was very expensive. They would use ink made out of gum, soot, and sometimes, but very rarely, the ink from an octopus. They would write with quills.
Present Day Research:
1) List of college prices: http://www.phillips-scholarship.org/documents/COAList.pdf
2) Present day schools offer food for very low prices, therefore, kids who don’t have as much money to spend on healthy packed lunches, or when their parents don’t have enough time to pack their lunches, the school can provide food for them, that is not as unhealthy as a fast food restaurant, and always has selections of fruits and vegetables.
3) People can choose to send their children to public schools, where they don’t have to pay for them (not directly anyway, they do through taxes), or private schools where the price is usually very high, and there are fewer people per class.
4) The way that public schools nowadays get money is often through the government (really payed for with collected tax money), and sometimes the schools/school districts themselves create fundraisers, and levies.
5) The price of college is so high right now, that economists predict it will actually cost over $120,000 in 2015. If the price of college continues to grow after this, the USA will most likely experience the same problems that Ancient Rome did, because nobody except for extraordinarily rich people will be able to afford school that is that expensive. Schools need to be set at a reasonable price so that people won't have to worry about the future, and how they will be able to afford a proper education for their children.
6) People who work at the schools also have to get payed. Here are some of the paychecks of people who work for schools:
PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS:
- Superintendents: $159,634
HOURLY WAGE RATES:- Custodians: $13.74
- Cafeteria Workers: $10.93
- School Bus Drivers: $13.43
- Library Clerks: $13.03
HOURLY WAGE RATES:- Custodians: $13.74
- Cafeteria Workers: $10.93
- School Bus Drivers: $13.43
- Library Clerks: $13.03
PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT STAFF SALARIES:- Secretaries: $29,850
- Accounting Payroll: $34,810
- Teacher Aides: $22,000
PUBLIC SCHOOL PROFESSIONAL PERSONNEL:- Counselor: $57,800
- Librarian: $54,650
- School Nurse: $64,260 (average)
PUBLIC SCHOOL ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS:7) While most of the school workers don't get payed much at all, they almost always have very good health care benefits. Another good thing about working in a school is that they have very good retirement benefits for when they are too old to work in schools. However, most teachers work in schools for a very long time, and therefore don't spend as much time in retirement as people who worked in other jobs may.
8) Public transportation is very important to us. Many people can't have their parents drive them to school, so we need buses. One way that we could help the Ancient Romans getting to and from school is through public transportation. Of course it's not like they had cars back then, but it takes a very long time to walk to school, and some of their tax money could go to helping schools arrange public transportation for the students, and to pay whomever arranges the transportation (present day bus drivers).
9) In the USA, public wasn't really used until the founding fathers decided that education was extremely important in order for the newly founded country to survive. Thomas Jefferson was actually the one to come up with the idea of free education for children. The idea started in Virginia for three years, and after not too much time, it spread throughout most of America.
10) The chart shown below represents what the Congress spends our money on. Notice how they spend much more on military than on education for the future generation.
11) Going along with the above chart, since Congress spends so much more on military than on education, American 12th graders rank 19th out of 21 competing countries in mathematics achievement and 16th out of 21 nations in science. Our advanced physics results were terrible, 21 out of 21. This is not a result of poor schools or poor teachers. It is partially because of not enough money to support education as well as other countries, but mostly because of how many people drop out of school in the USA.
Dear Mr. Bloomer,
Our names are Tess and Alex, and we are 7th graders at Nagel Middle School.
We are doing a project on Ancient Roman education, and were wondering if
you could answer some of our questions about education in Ancient Rome.
- How did the price of school in Ancient Rome compare to the prices of present
day college?
- From what we have researched, it seems that teaching, or being taught was really
considered a punishment. Is this true?
- How did the poor learn all of the things that they taught their children if
they didn’t get a proper education? In other words, were the poor people in the
Roman Empire descended from poor people, who were descended from poor
people, and so on?
Again, we would be so happy if you could respond, and that's perfectly fine if you
can't.
Thank you for your time,
Tess Wells and Alex Raborn
Contact Information:
361 Decio Faculty Hall
(574)631-2324
mbloomer@nd.edu
Curriculum Vitae
Questions:
- How did the Ancient Romans handle lunch. Did they bring their lunches, did they eat inside or outside, etc.
- How did the price of school in Rome compare to the price of present day collages.
- How did the poor learn all of the things that they taught their children if they didn’t get a proper education? In other words, were the poor people in the Roman Empire descended from poor people, who were descended from poor people, and so on?
-Did the Romans realize that the Empire was going to crumble if they didn’t get their children a proper education?
-When did the Ancient Romans realize that they had to get their people well educated to keep the Empire going?
Summary/Conclusion
The Ancient Romans were very into education. The rich could always afford the best for their children in terms of education, but the poor were not usually able to get a proper education. Generally, they just had to have their parents teach them. Something that we could do to save the Roman Empire from being lost forever, is to have them pay just a little bit of tax money as they start to get back on track, and as the Empire returns to it’s original height, they can pay more and more tax money to support the education of people who can’t afford a proper education. Once the Roman Empire has more educated people, they will be able to make better decisions because of better educated people running the Empire. If there are better decisions made for the Empire because of better educated people, the Roman Empire will be saved. And all because of a little bit of tax money.
Final Project:
(it may take a while to load)
Roman Education Problems Weebly
Sources:
"Ancient roman education." Ancient roman education. 15 Jan. 2013<http://www.mariamilani.com/ancient_rome/ancient_roman_education.htm>.
"Cradles of Education - Ancient Rome." Cradles of Education - Ancient Rome. 15 Jan. 2013
<http://www.foreigncredits.com/Articles/cradles-of-education-ancient-rome-110.htm>.
Feldman, Jessica. "Did My Education Cost Too Much?" The Daily Beast. 12 Sept. 2012. Newsweek/Daily Beast. 15 Jan. 2013 <http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/12/is-a-college-degree-worth-the-crisis-of-debt.html>.
"Rome Exposed - Education." Rome Exposed - Education. 14 Jan. 2013
<http://www.classicsunveiled.com/romel/html/education.html>.
"Roman Education." Roman Education. 14 Jan. 2013
<http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/roman_education.htm>.
"Education in the Roman Empire." Article Myriad. 14 Jan. 2013
<http://www.articlemyriad.com/education-in-roman-empire/>.
"K-12 Facts." The Center for Education Reform. 17 Jan. 2013
<http://www.edreform.com/2012/04/k-12-facts/>.
"University of Southern California." USC Price School of Public Policy. 17 Jan. 2013
<http://www.usc.edu/schools/price/>.
"U.S. Department of Education." U.S. Department of Education. 21 Jan. 2013
<http://www.ed.gov/>.
"General informationPublic Education in the United States." Public Education in the United States. 21 Jan. 2013 <http://www.theusaonline.com/general/education.htm>.
"RECENT ARTICLES." 20 Troubling Facts about American Education. 21 Jan. 2013 <http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/education/ed0033.html>.
"Facts On Education in the United States." Facts On Education in the United States. 21 Jan. 2013 <http://www.villagelife.org/news/archives/CS_publicschools/edufacts.html>.
Pictures of Ancient Roman Schools:
Notice how in the class in the picture to the left, all of the students are male.
In the picture on the right, there are only several people in the class.
The passerby on the right is a girl who cannot
go to school because of her gender.